Southern California

'Living a Nightmare': Family Says 2 Women Killed in Compton Street Takeover

The city disputes that it was a takeover.

Courtesy of family

The mother of one of the women killed in a Compton crash over the weekend was sharing a warning about street takeovers.

The City of Compton said a crash that killed two women Sunday night was not associated with a street takeover, but neighbors and witnesses are disputing that claim as they say dozens of people were at that intersection at the time of the crash.

Witnesses said a street takeover was about to begin.

The crash happened around 11:40 p.m. Sunday night at the intersection of Stockwell Street and Wilmington Avenue

Veronica Piedra’s daughter Michellie Gonzalez was one of the two women who was killed. Jennfyfer Flores was the other woman who died.

“I am living a nightmare,” Piedra said.

Piedra spent most of Sunday with Michellie. They went to the beach.

“She was so happy playing soccer, going inside the beach, bonding with me,” Piedra said. “She was like ‘mom, I’m having the best time, I’m with you, I’m dedicating you this day.'”

Hours later her daughter died in the crash. Her little brother spoke with police.

“My heart almost dropped. I couldn’t believe that my sister was gone,” Juan Piedra Jr. said. “I had to ask the sheriff, ‘what had happened to my sister?’ And he told me she had passed away on the scene, and I didn’t know what to say when he told me that.”

Veronica says street takeovers are popular right now, and she never wants another family to feel this pain.

“I didn’t know anything -- that she was going to that -- because you better believe that as a mother I would have never let her go, never let her go, never!” Piedra said. “These are the consequences to these takeovers. This took my daughter’s life and it took her best friend’s life and it is not fair.”

One night we were with her, the next night she was gone.

victim's brother

“I’m not saying don’t have fun, but I’m just saying things like this can happen in a split second. One day you’re having a great time with your friends, the next day your family has to figure out how to pay for your funeral.”

As they figure out how to plan for a funeral, they are also caring for someone else.

“My grandson,” Veronica said.

Michellie had a 1-year-old son Fenix.

“She loved her son. He’s one and a half. He’s going to be two September 17th,” Veronica said. “And he’s not going to be with his mother.”

So far, police have made no arrests. The driver of the other vehicle said he had a green light and suspected the women did not see him on the road.

The family is very concerned about upcoming expenses associated with Michellie’s funeral, and created a GoFundMe.

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